Maritime Procedure Law Research

The Maritime Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the?MPL? was enacted at the l3 meeting of the Standing Committee of the 9th session of the National People's Congress of China (NPC. legislator) on 25~ December 1999 and implemented on 1st July 2000. The implementation of the MPL is regarded as a new milestone in the Chinese Maritime Law system. The newly promulgated MPL has created, for all the maritime claimants and their opponents, an efficient mechanism in solving their disputes and keeping a proper way to the rule of law in this field. It is a successful law although some of the provisions are not matured and need to be revised. China plays an important role in upholding an international maritime justice and will be the center of maritime adjudication within the area of Asia and Pacific. Maritime procedure is within the field of the civil procedure. Therefore the provisions of the MPL mirror the new developments of theory researches in the dvii procedure law field. Jurisdiction takes an important role in the civil proceedings. However, the provisions of the MPL in this respect are attached to the Civil Procedure Laws, which makes the concerned provisions incomplete. Preservation of Maritime Claims is no doubt the most important part. The writer elaborates the contents and characters of the preservation of maritime claims. Arrest of ship falls on the main and typical category of the preservation of maritime claims. In the MPL, China has adopted the dosed list of claims in the Arrest Convention 1999. This contrast with uncertainty of the current Arrest Regulations 1994 which provided a generic description of a aritime claim followed by a non xhaustive list of examples. The MPL mirrors the provisions of the Arrest Convention 1999. In most cases, arrest is only possible if, at the time of the arrest, the ship to be arrest is owned or demise chartered by the respondent. The so-called Iiving arrest is recognized by the MPL. After ordering to preserve a ship, the maritime court may, with the consent of the maritime claimant, allow continued operation of the ship by means of restraining disposition or mortgage of the ship. For the first time the MPL provides the specific provisions on the arrest of cargo, bunkers and necessaries carried on a ship in order to obtain security supplement the current general provisions allowing for pre-Iitigation conservatory measures. New powers have been granted to the Courts to make mandatory orders requiring a party to do or to refrain form doing an act, backed up by the sanction of a fine or imprisonment. (Equivalent to the old areva Injunction? now called a reezing Injunction ?in England) The regulations on trial procedures in collision case differ greatly from those in the Civil Procedure Code governing common cases. The MPL adopts much of the common law system with respect to trial procedures governing collision cases. Compared with previous laws and judicial practice, some changes with respect of the service can be easily noted in the MPL, and these changes are mainly concerned with the qualification of the recipients of the service. The MPL introduces a procedure to alert the buyer of a ship to the exercise of maritime liens attached to it. Following an application for the notification of maritime liens, the Court will publicly invite claimants to register their liens. 16 articles from 6 chapters of the MPL are in connection with the maritime arbitration.